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  • From: Clansgian AT wmconnect.com
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Fall Happenings
  • Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:37:56 EDT



> >They must have gotten more efficient because when they started this whole
> subsidised ethanol thing, our teen group investigated it and came up with
> 1.25 to 1.5 gallons to produce a gallon.

They have not gotten more efficient and your figures are about right. You get
the positive BTU yield by saying that the spent mash *can* be used for feed
stuffs and then adding into the formula all the oil it would take to grow
that
equivalent amount of feed grains. Several things wrong with this: The mash
sours quickly and then must be used very sparaingly as feed. Unless this has
changed, distilleries are not located at feedlots so there is the cost of
handling and hauling the stuff. For the moat part the feed value of the
spent
grains is theoretical rather than actual.

Keep in mind too that a gallon of ethanol only has 2/3 the btu's of gasoline.

If ethanol were not being heavily subsidized, if it were a business depending
on profit, it would be bankrupt tomorrow. And now that gasoline is backing
off in price and ehtanol can't, who would buy the stuff? Locally gasoline is
$2.59 a gallon and E85 is $2.39. Owing to less btu's and less mileage, if
you
buy the E85 now, you lose.




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